Loading machine



2,48Ll2g A. L. LEE

LOADING MACHINE Sww, m 141%..

Filed March 15, 1946 D Patented Sept. 6, 1949 UNITED S'iATEfi stir oFFi-cE Application March 15, was; Seriarhlo. 654,622

This invention relates to a loading machine.

An object of the invention is to provide a loading machine with an improved gathering head which will increase the gathering efficiency thereof.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combination being set forth in the appended claim.

In'the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a loading machine incorporating the features of my invention;

Fig. 21s a perspective View, showing the loading head; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through one of the gathering conveyers and a portion of one ofthe plows or guides.

Much of the structure of the loading machine herein disclosed is the same as that disclosed in 1 Claim. (Cl. 198-8) drawings, the gathering conveyors f8 and my application for a Loading machine, Serial ings, the loading machine illustrated includes amain frame it which is mounted upon a pair of swingable front traction wheels 5 l and a pair of rear steering wheels l2; Extending longitudinally'along the main frame it isiaetelescop:

ing conveyer trough it, one portioniof :which. is

provided with a gathering head it, which gathering head togetherwith one'portion'ofthe telescoping. through it may be reciprocated orfed".

rectilinearly forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the main frame I (l.-

A driving motor 55 is provided to drive an endless chain and flight conveyor it which extends through the telescoping through it and. conveys any material delivered to it from the front end to the rear end at which the material is discharged into an appropriate receptacle. The motor I5 also provides the primary source of power for driving the traction wheels H as well as for reciprocating the gathering head it and driving the gathering conveyers thereon, all as described in complete detail in my above-mentioned application Serial No. 589,361.

The gathering head M includes an upwardly sloping flat plate if over which the coal or like material, which is being gathered, is scraped or conveyed by a pair of laterally spaced orbitally traveling longitudinally extending endless chain and flight gathering conveyors or devices It and I9.

As clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the symmetrically spaced about a longitudinal 'a running through the center of the gather-inglie i4 and-throughthe center-oftheconveyer tr'oilg 1 During operation of the device the gatlierlri head It is fed rectilinearly forward into an of shot orseini-compact coal and'tlie gathering conveyers i 8' and IQ gather the coal and conve it rearWa-rdly over the center portion'ofthe plat ii deliveringit to the'rear e'nd of-ftlie' t'rofig it, along which trough it is conveyed byare endless conveyor mechanism l6.

It hasbeen found in practice that" an ap'pre ciableamount of coal tends t'o'build'udon v of uide bars 29 and 2! of the gathering devlc l8 and l fand some offit tendsto spill-over on the outer edge thereof thus being lost or con veyed back toward the coal which is athered. V g p It has been found that the eiilci'encyflofitli gathering head; M can'be appreciablyincrea'sc'd by employing a pair of plows or guid'es' 22 arr in association with" the gathering devices lli and iii. Except for the fact that'they arereversely constructed the guide devices orplowsfll 'and f 23 are of similar construction and thus "a ds'i'i rilfr tion of one will sufiice for both. I

Plow or guide'22 comprisesan irregular" shaped structure including a bottom'plate 24 ing a pair of 'cups adjacent"oppositeendsf on" off which is seen at 25', Eachofth? two cups of plate 25, of which cup 25. is one; receives. aboi' one of which is seen at 2,6; which extends throll'gli the plate El, and a reinforcing lug isfprovide with"a' nut-2?; thus rigidly attaching'the plow or guide 22 to the upper surface of the guide bar 29 of the gathering conveyer [8.

Guide or plow 22 includes a rear generally horizontal, but slightly inwardly sloping, top plate 23 and near its rear or discharge end is provided with a generally upright, though slightly upwardly and outwardly sloping, rear plate portion 29 Extending forwardly from the plate 28 and attached at its top to the top plate 28 and at its bottom to the bottom plate '24 is an upwardlyand outwardly sloping plate 3%.

As is clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, plate 3i) has a greater slope at its foremost or outer edge, which is indicated at 3|, than adjacent its rearmost edge where it attaches to plate 29. Furthermore, in addition to this progressive increase in slope of plate 30 from its rear end to its front end, said plate also diverges outwardly from the rear end to the front end. Stated another way, the plate 39 converges from its front edge 3| towards its rear edge which adjoins plate 29 and co-operates with said plate 29 to form one side wall of a converging trough which is effected by the two plows 22 and 23, the trough being completed by the frame members of the gathering mechanisms l8 and I9 and by the longitudinal center portion of the plate l1.

In other words, this converging upward wall of the trough thus formed by the structure just described co-operates to converge the coal or like material as it is conveyed upwardly and rearwardly alon the axial center of plate I! and is ultimately discharged into the receiving end of the trough i3 and conveyed rearwardly by conveyer 16. Thus the plows 22 and 23 prevent any appreciable spilling of coal or like material, once it is received between the two gathering conveyers l8 and i9.

Adjacent its forward end the plow 22 is provided with a nose which is formed by a plate 32 having curved side edges and which at its rear end joins at 3! with the front end of sloping plate Mandwhich at its foremost end terminates in a horizontal edge in contact with the bottom plate 24 The nose 33 thus formed extends around the nut2l and acts somewhat as a scoop to guide the material which may fall on the guide bar 20 into the trough provided by the gathering head M,- as above described. It is, of course, obvious thatall of the structure described in detail for the plow 22 has a counterpart in the plow 23.

During the operation of the unit, as the loose or semi-compact coal is gathered in by the flights of the gathering conveyers l8 and l 9 and scraped across the longitudinal center of the plate H, the plows 22 and 23 will co-operate to form a converging trough, looking from the front to the rear or in the direction of travel of the material. These plows will substantially prevent material falling oil the head l4 and will confine it to the center portion thereof where it will be conveyed rearwardly by the gathering conveyers I8 and I9 under most all conditions of operation. As a consequence, the efiiciency of the gathering head has been materially increased and it has been found in practice that the capacity of a loader has been largely limited by the capacity of the gathering head.

Theeimproved gathering head construction is illustrated in connection with a particular type of loader and I have found it to be particularly efiicient in connection with this loader in which the head is positively fed into the coal. It is to be understood, however, that in certain broader 4 aspects of the invention it is not to be limited to this type of loader, but may be employed with other types of loaders and with loaders conceivably having slightly different gathering devices than the endless chain and flight gathering conveyers illustrated.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodi ment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A gathering head for a loading machine including a conveyer, a plate adjacent one end of said conveyer over which material being gathered is scraped onto said conveyer, a pair of orbitally traveling longitudinally extending endless chain and flight gathering conveyers including guide bars carried above said plate spaced symmetrically about a horizontal axis running through said conveyer, the endless chain and flight gathering conveyers co-operating with said plate to form a trough through which said endless chain and flight conveyers scrape material being gathered onto said conveyer, a pair of similar reversely constructed material guiding plows carried above said endless chain and flight conveyers for directing material being gathered into said trough, each of said plows including a flat bottom plate adapted to be mounted rigidly upon the top of one of said endless chain and flight conveyer guide bars, and continuous wall means the front edge of which lies substantially horizontal and adjacent said bottom plate and the rearward portion of which converges rearwardly from said front edge to form an inwardly sloping wall whereby said plows co-operate to form a rearwardly converging trough for directing loose material above said endless chain and flight guide bars into said trough as the gathering head enters loose material being gathered.

ARTHUR L. LEE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,448,756 MacEachen Mar. 20, 1923 2,113,733 Kraft Apr. 12, 1938 

